Need help with a deserted castle map

[Siege Tower]

I'm starting up a campaign in which the characters need to find an old castle. I'm intending the castle to be a sort of maze in which there are multiple solitary evil creatures walking about. I want the challenge to be that the four players need to find a certain room while trying to avoid confrontations with the creatures that they may or may not be aware of.

The creatures within the maze are going to range from simple loud lumbering zombies who are wandering aimlessly to soul sniffers which are trying to hunt down the group. So I also need to work out where to position these creatures with in the maze.

If anyone could help me out that would be most appreciated!

[dsmiles]

Do you already have a map? It would help to see it, since you're asking where to position the baddies...

[Siege Tower]

Do you already have a map? It would help to see it, since you're asking where to position the baddies...

The problem is I have no idea how to make an effective maze. I've thought of using a maze making program online but I can't make it seem like a real castle by doing so. In terms of the baddies I was wondering if they should only be at dead ends or only if they're going the right way or something like that.

[dsmiles]

The problem is I have no idea how to make an effective maze. I've thought of using a maze making program online but I can't make it seem like a real castle by doing so. In terms of the baddies I was wondering if they should only be at dead ends or only if they're going the right way or something like that.

Put the maze in the cellar, perhaps?

As far as the baddies go, I would give them preset movement paths. That way it seems kind of random to the players, but you know where they'll be at any given moment in time. Place them at a starting point, and have them move through the maze towards their own "point B." Once they get there, they turn around and go back. Either that or have them move in a circular pattern (point A -> point B -> point C -> point D -> point A).

[Siege Tower]

Put the maze in the cellar, perhaps?

As far as the baddies go, I would give them preset movement paths. That way it seems kind of random to the players, but you know where they'll be at any given moment in time. Place them at a starting point, and have them move through the maze towards their own "point B." Once they get there, they turn around and go back. Either that or have them move in a circular pattern (point A -> point B -> point C -> point D -> point A).

That could work...really well! Also a cellar that's intentionally a maze could give me an excuse to make it really weird. Thanks. All I need to figure out now is how to get them into that cellar with out having them wander around a castle. That should be no problem though.

[Seonor]

If you have difficulties making it look right, modeling the castle after a real one can help. For example the Krak des Chevaliers (more pictures here) has the right look.
For the map start with a relativly simply castle (outer wall, some buildings, towers, a tunnel to a nearby spring for water) then imagine that someone captured the fortress and added some secret passages, some buildings and cellars. The next one to capture the castle did the same, but never found some of the older passages. Someone else added a new outer wall and roofed over some inner courtyard to create more living space. And so on. Make sure that the players notice the different styles in the construction, that way you not only have a maze, but a maze that has a reason to be there.

[dsmiles]

That could work...really well! Also a cellar that's intentionally a maze could give me an excuse to make it really weird. Thanks. All I need to figure out now is how to get them into that cellar with out having them wander around a castle. That should be no problem though.

Maybe all that's left of the castle is a tower, a couple of rooms on the ground floor, and a staircase leading down.

[MarkusWolfe]

I'm just getting a thought here: What if the biggest monster was the owner of the castle (whether officially, squatting, or just a dumb animal that uses it as its lair) and all the other monsters are just its food that it brought back to eat later?

[Vrythas]

another method of building a maze is to simply make it square, and just say that the castle is square as well, with towers at the corners. then as for the reason it's there (although i think Seonor's idea - could do a lot with that), just claim that the previous owner wanted it to be defensible. you could have false walls everywhere - where troops would've been able to burst out upon enemies - and have them connect up to other parts of the castle. combine this with weathering and aging and crumbling, and you have a pretty suitable maze. Oh!! one more idea - if you generate a maze that is a box but has 4 quadrants that kind of spiral in on themselves, you could have towers there, as well as on the corners of box of the entire maze... i hope that makes sense....well, good luck !!